Special Environment Eurobarometer "Attitudes of Europeans towards
the Environment" 2004

The first survey of public attitudes to the environment
across the enlarged EU of 25 countries reveals that close to nine
out of ten Europeans believe that policy-makers should pay as much
attention to environmental issues as to economic and social factors
when taking decisions.

The survey, carried out in November 2004, showed that almost 90%
of Europeans believe that environmental concerns should be taken
into account in decision making in fields such as employment and
the economy. Nine of the new Member States, feature among the top
ten countries where the largest proportion of respondents believe
policy-makers should regard environmental issues as of equal importance
to social and economic ones.

State of the environment (72%) influences the quality of life as
much as social factors (72%) and economic factors are perceived
as slightly more important (78%).

The four environmental problems people worry about most are water
pollution, man-made disasters (oil spills, industrial accidents
etc), climate change, and air pollution. Some significant discrepancies
were noted in key concern areas amongst citizens in the new and
old Member States, a significantly higher proportion of interviewees
in the EU-15 are anxious about climate change, while in the ten
new EU countries, air and water pollution and waste management top
the list.

Although, the majority of Europeans feel well informed about environmental
issues there still remain about one-third of the respondents feel
badly informed. It is the relatively new and scientifically complex
issues that people say they lack information about: such as the
safety of chemicals and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
in farming.

A vast majority of Europeans - 85% - feel they already make an
effort to care for their own environment. However, over half this
majority (57%) also believes that, to achieve results, industry,
corporations and other individuals must also play their part. When
asked exactly what action they are prepared to take themselves,
by far the largest number of people choose sorting and recycling
waste (72%) followed by 39% of respondents who are ready to cut
their household energy consumption.

When it comes to trustworthy sources of information, Europeans
across all 25 Member States look first to environmental protection
associations (42%) and scientists (32%).

An important finding for the EU is that one third of respondents
believe that decisions about protecting the environment can best
be taken at European level - 3% more than two years ago.

Press release

Summary of Report

Full Report

Background
The special Eurobarometer n°217 was realised by TNS Opinion & Social
between the 27th October and the 29th of November 2004. 24.786 citizens
of the European Union aged 15 and more have been surveyed in the
25 Member States.